


More Than A Candle

by aionimica



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, and in a bit of an AU, finn and poe in the background, grisha au, grisha trilogy au, set several decades after the grisha civil war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 14:05:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8893522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aionimica/pseuds/aionimica
Summary: At the death of Santka Alina, Sun Summoners were given to the world. But now, they're gone. Only one is left. And someone is looking for her. (A Grisha Trilogy AU)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gizkas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gizkas/gifts).



Rey knew what it was like to hunt. She spent countless years in the abandoned wastes that split across the center of Ravka, filtering through the ruined cities and houses looking for anything that might be salvageable.

The Unsea wasn’t unseen anymore – some of the older people around Kirbrisk told of the volcra that used to be human once, until a man walked out into the sand and called the black of the stars from the sky. One of the Darklings from long ago - the Black Heretic, they whispered over campfires.

Initially, it was written off a legend, scare tactics to keep scavengers away, and Rey believed them until she found human bones contorted and broken into wings, jaws mangled and reaching out for her. She didn’t sleep for a week after that.

No, now it was just a belt of sand, slowly being picked clean by sharp beaks and broken hanks. Even now despite being a month’s ride away, she could still feel the bits of sand in her boots. The urge to shake it from her hair was unbearable, same with the need to scrape it from under her fingernails.

She knew what it was like to search until the tips of her fingers bled, to scavenge and hunt for anything that might possibly lie under the surface that might earn a bit of gold.

Being hunted though, that was a new experience.

Outside her tent the winds howled. Poe said someone had been tracking them, the fire from their camps drifting a day or two behind them. Finn just took one look and urged them on faster. The corporalki healer still wore the tattered kefta of an oprichniki – one of the guardians of the followers of Sankt Aleksander. He never exactly explained how he got tied up with them in the first place, nor how he subsequently escaped and Rey wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

From the way Poe held his rifle and the healing scar across his chest, she was pretty sure he had something to do with it.

And then they needed someone who could get them through the nights – ‘keep shadows at bay,’ is what Finn said.

Rey turned on her bedroll and curled on her side, pulling her mittens from her hands. Taking a deep breath, she focused on the warmth in her belly, letting it grow and expand. A spatter of light blossomed on her fingertips, dancing in the darkness. Keeping away the shadows ended up being her specialty.

“That was not a smart idea.”

The light extinguished as her hand clenched, but not before illuminating the shadowed outline of a man outside her tent. She swore under her breath as she pulled on her boots and grabbed Poe’s extra rifle from behind her.

“Can I come in?”

When she didn’t answer, he slowly lifted the tent flap and ducked inside. It only took one look at the rifle in her hand and for him to stare at her as if to say, ‘ _really_?’

 _Yes really_ , she wanted to shout. _You’ve been chasing us for days, of course I’m willing to shoot you._

And yet there was a reason her hand was nowhere near the trigger.

The grisha knelt down at her side. He wore a black kefta, lined with red: a half moon sigil stitched in the sleeves: Sankt Aleksander’s mark. Rey looked up hesitantly to where her light cast on soft brown eyes. Black hair fell into his eyes and even as he sat down, his head threatened to scrape the top of the tent.

Saints why did it have to be him. Why was it always him. It shouldn’t have surprised her that of all the grisha left, he was the one chasing after them – it was only a matter of time before she saw him again. He hadn’t aged a day.

“You’ve been running,” he said flatly.

“You’re chasing me,” she quipped.

The man shrugged. “I told you it would be a foolish endeavor.”

“Are you going to try and tell me that I should quit running?”

His lips pressed together before the corner of them curved into a smile. “No.”

Rey blinked and watched as the man called Kylo Ren, crossed his arms and rubbed his chin. She glanced behind to the rest of the tents shrouded under the trees.

His smile faded. “Am I interrupting something?”

 _Don’t let him find Finn. Don’t let him find Finn._ Rey glanced back at him and forced a smile on her face. “There is no where I would rather be.”

Kylo Ren scowled and the shadows grew bleaker. Rey swallowed. “Don’t feel so pressed to lie to me, Rey.”

The shadows grew and seemed to pulse, seething black pits, but Rey just flicked her fingers, one by one, casting bauble after bauble of light. She watched as he leaned in, a moth drawn to her flame. His hand fell over her own, fingers lining up together, his hands rimmed with callous.

“I’m not lying.”

Power coursed through her, the light blooming from her fingertips, heat flooding between them. Shadows danced across his face, illuminating a pale, hard jaw that curved into full lips.

“We’ll see about that,” he said softly. “Come with me, and I’ll leave your oprichniki friend and his tracker behind.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked up to him. Finn would be safe. Poe could get him out of Ravka, away from Sankt Aleksander’s clutches. Finn would be safe, and she-

His shadows creeped around, locking in the light around them. If her friends looked out, they would see a dark and silent tent. If she went with him, they would be safe and and Finn could escape. But Rey stared at the blackness that seeped from his hand and then to her own. The last time they met, he stared her down in the Unsea and held a knife to her before asking to teach her. But what did he know of her power? What could he teach her except to pull down into his shadow? Rey glanced at the soft glow dancing around, pulsing with her heart and warm in her hands: this was all she knew, and all she needed. But if he found Finn…

“You’re afraid,” Kylo said gently. “Don’t be.”

A gasp fell from her lips as he pulled away, and their world plunged back into darkness and cold. It was heavier than before: pressing, cloying. Alive. The shadows swirled on their own, tendrils seeking out the hidden spaces in the tent. The darkling settled back on his heels, his hand pressing down.

Kylo Ren whispered in the dark, his breath warm and soft in her ear. “I can feel it too.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is in response to a tumblr prompt and it's a universe that I may or may not continue if I get enough requests or if it's popular enough. I hope you all enjoy!
> 
> (the world, the magic, the saints, anything that has to do with the grisha trilogy belongs to leigh bardugo)


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